


Enough

by chellefic



Category: Smallville
Genre: Episode Tag, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-01-23
Updated: 2003-01-23
Packaged: 2017-10-31 11:20:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/343491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chellefic/pseuds/chellefic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A post-"Insurgence" tag in which Clark confronts Lex about his actions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enough

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Kamil, without whose encouragement this would've remained forever on my hard drive.

"So are you going to tell me?" Clark asked. He'd been sitting in Lex's office, while Lex ignored him in favor of his laptop, for nearly half an hour.

"Tell you what?" Lex replied, without looking up.

"About the men who held your father and my mother hostage."

Lex did look up then, and although he kept his expression carefully neutral, Clark could practically hear the wheels spinning in his head as Lex decided what to tell, what to deny. Briefly, Clark considered reminding him that they had both agreed to stop lying.

"I hired them."

It was what Clark had expected to hear, but the anger still hit, strong enough to propel him from the couch to lean over Lex's desk. "Why?"

"To bug the office. It was Sunday, the building should have been empty. When I found out your mother was going to be there I tried to call it off, but they had other ideas."

Lex's voice was calm, too calm. He wasn't even trying to defend himself, despite the explanation. Clark pulled back, paced across the room to the rebuilt shelves, and then back to the desk. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to win so badly?"

Lex stared at him in confusion.

"That's why you hired those guys, wasn't it?" Clark demanded. "To beat him."

"Yes."

"Because if you beat him, then he'll approve of you, respect you."

Lex didn't answer. Clark didn't really expect him to. "But he won't," Clark said, as gently as he could. Crossing behind the desk, he turned Lex's chair so that he could kneel in front of it. "Your father will never give you his approval, because as long as you want it and he withholds it, he has power over you."

"I know."

Clark knew he knew. After all, Lex was the one who had taught him about power struggles.

"I don't know how to stop," Lex whispered, dropping his chin to his chest.

The confession took Clark by surprise. He'd expected at least another fifteen minutes of arguing first. Anger draining away, Clark placed his fingers under Lex's chin and lifted his face. "I approve of you. I respect you. I love you."

"How can you forgive me after what I did? Your mother…" Lex choked. "Clark, your mother could have died."

"You made a mistake."

"I make a lot of those."

"No more than anyone else. It's just that yours all happen in grand, Lex style."

Lex snorted.

"You have to stop." Clark slid his hands up to Lex's waist and edged closer to his lover.

"I know. I just…I don't know how." Lex lowered his forehead to Clark's shoulder. "I don't know how."

Clark stroked his hands up Lex's back. "Let me be enough. Please, Lex, just let me be enough." Lex didn't answer. He simply turned his head, bringing their lips together.

***

Clark waited until Lex was trembling and then he entered him with as much tenderness as he possessed. Lex wrapped his arms around Clark's shoulders and pulled him close. Clark moved slowly, more slowly than he ever had before, and it didn't even require any effort because he didn't want the moment to end, was afraid of what would happen when it did.

Lex's grip on him tightened, and Clark found himself murmuring the only words either of them had spoken since the kiss in Lex's office. "Love you. You're everything. Everything. I love you so much, Lex."

Lex made a sound that might have been Clark's name and then he brought their mouths together. Hunger and need and Clark responded without thinking, moving deeper and faster and harder.

Afterward, Clark lay with his head in the center of Lex's chest while Lex toyed with his hair. He wasn't enough. He knew that, but if he kept trying maybe one day he would be. He had to try.


End file.
